chance meeting
by MissDonnie
Summary: Lisbon meets a Jane look alike from Pittsburg


I don't own the Mentalist, wish I did, I would get to meet Simon Baker…one can dream:

What would happen if Jane meets his look-a-like…..how would Lisbon react?

Thanks to Jane the case was over the day they got it. The wife killed her husband at the swimming pool at the hotel, holding him under water. Everyone was surprised since the wife was such a small woman, but Jane said "When a woman hates her husband for fooling around you would be surprised how strong she could be." Jane was the one that found out about the husband and his three mistresses, and that the day of the murder they were all there in different rooms. That was one busy husband, whose wife came to the hotel for lunch and found out he was checked into three rooms, and that was the end of that.

Van Pelt was taking out some of the evidence to the car, she made sure they were tagged correctly and was looking forward to having the rest of the day off when they got back to the office. More time to work on the last minute plans for the wedding. It also helped that they had the weekend off also.

She is passing through the lobby when she does a double take. Why was Jane sitting in the lobby…and when did he cut his hair and change into a very impressive blue suit, with a power red tie. She goes over to the couch he is sitting at, and going through an attaché. Hopefully it didn't belong to victim.

"Jane what are you doing, that isn't Mr. Burnside case is It.?"

Nick looks up at her a confused look on his face. Looking at him she knows this is not Jane….those eyes were greener then blue, no three piece suit, and no humor in those eyes. But yet he could be Jane's twin.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were someone I work with, please excuse me." She says quickly.

"No problem." The man says turning back to looking in the attaché case.

Van Pelt walks away, looking back one more time. Wait until she tells Lisbon, hopefully the man would be around.

Lisbon makes sure that the police will be taking Mrs. Burnside to the CSI building so they could get her statement. They walk off with the woman, and Jane looks around for Jane, who of course was once again missing. It was time to start off for the office and she told him not to go anywhere, when is he ever where she wants him to be. She sees Rigby and calls him over to her.

"It's your turn to find Jane; I'm waiting for the coroner to let me know that they are ready to take the body away, which should be in a few minutes. If you can find Jane we can get to the office to get the statement from Mrs. Burnside and start out weekend."

"Why is it my turn, why not Cho?" he says

"Because Cho found him when he left the swimming pool and Van Pelt found him having tea in one of the hotel restaurants, that is why."

Rigby knows the tone of her voice and just nods his head in agreement and starts the search, it's a big hotel and where would Jane go…almost anywhere he things, his eyes looking for the missing Jane. He passes the lobby and stops. Great how did Jane have time to get his hair cut, and wow is it ever short. He marches over to the couch and stops in front of Jane who is on his cell phone. Rigby knows that Lisbon wants Jane now so he grabs the phone and hangs up the call. The man sitting on the couch looks shocked and then mad as he stands up.

"I would like my phone back now…and who in the hell are you?" Nick says, trying very hard to keep his voice low. Some of the other attorneys were sitting in the lobby waiting for the next session to start at the convention he didn't want to be at, but for the sake of the firm and his father he was here.

"You're not Jane!" Rigby just stands there with his mouth open.

"No I'm not, now hand me my phone before I yell out for a police officer." Nick says a little louder, people are beginning to look at them.

"I am the police," shows his badge. "You look just like a guy I work with." Notices he still has the phone and gives it to Nick. "I'm really sorry about this."

Nick takes the phone back. "You're the second person who said that to me today. We really look that much alike?"

"Yeah…except his hair is longer. I'm really sorry, but I've really got to find him." Rigby takes off, boy wait until Lisbon sees the other Jane.

Nick sits back on the couch, he knew people in California were strange, but this taking strange to a new high. Now he needs to call Lulu back and explain why he hung up her."

Lisbon was fast losing her reminding patience. First no Jane, now Rigby wasn't back yet. The body was gone and all she wanted to do is get back to the office. When you want something done right you need to sometimes do it yourself. With that in her mind she leaves the swimming pool area and heads into the lobby, she sees Van Pelt coming inside the hotel and is waving to her, then she sees Rigby coming from the bar waving at her. She rolls her eyes and looks around and stops when she sees Jane, but a different looking Jane. She walks over to the couch and sits down next to Nick. He is busy on the phone and doesn't pay attention to Lisbon.

"Lulu, you're not going to believe what has happened so far this afternoon…." He starts talking.

"Okay Jane, what's going on with you? I mean the hair cut looks okay, but I prefer it the other way, you know how I like to run my fingers through those curls. I know we talked about you getting out of those three piece suits, but today I am in a hurry to get back to the office, so let's go." She stands up. Nick rolls his eyes.

"Lulu it looks like I'm going to have to call you back." Nick says quickly.

"Jane stop wasting time, at least Rigby and Van Pelt are here so we can finally go." She turns to him with her hands on her hips. "Remember we wanted to get out of the office early so we could start our weekend at the apartment just hanging around."

"Miss, you are the third person who keeps calling me Jane, I can assure you that my name is Nick Fallon, and here is my driver's license. He takes out his wallet and shows his ID. Lisbon looks at it and then back at Nick. Rigby and Van Pelt come up to her.

"He's not Jane" they both say at the same time. Lisbon just looks at them along with Nick.

"I don't know who this Jane is, but I take it we look alike."

"Yes" the other three say at the same time.

"Do you normally have to go searching for him?" Rigby and Van Pelt are quiet.

"He never seems to be where he is supposed to be, he keeps to his own schedule at times." Lisbon says.

"I see. Well if you'll excuse me I think I'll go up to my room and wait for my next meeting and let you find your missing Jane." He turns away from the three CBI agents and start walking. Jane comes into the lobby he is looking through a magazine and not where he is walking. Nick sees him and stops in surprise, Jane not looking up runs into Nick and both fall to the floor. Lisbon and the team rush over and look at Jane then at Nick.

"Lisbon I found that magazine you've been looking for and it looks interesting." He says from the floor, looking up at the team who is looking at him and the man lying next to him. Jane looks over and sees Nick and they both look at each other.

"Lisbon I think I might have hit my head a bit hard…"

Everyone starts talking at the same time. A short time later they are sitting at a table in the hotel restaurant. Nick and Jane are sitting next to each other.

"I'm so glad you could join us for dinner Nick, after everything we did to you today."

I'm glad you did, otherwise I would be eating alone." Nick says smiling at Lisbon; she notices that his smile isn't that million dollar wattage that Jane puts off.

"So you're an attorney, what brings you to California?" Jane says knowing by the end of the evening he would know everything about his look alike, he looked easy to read.

"Yes, I'm here to attend a convention, I'm finally flying home in the morning." Nick says, wondering if he should let his hair grow a bit longer, how Lulu would like.

"Are you married?" Van Pelt says, everyone looks at her, her face gets bright red. "Sorry, I guess that is none of my business."

"I've been married for a year, and my wife, Lulu and I have a baby daughter Sarah who is eighteen months. This is the first time I've been away from them." Nick says smiling at Van Pelt.

Jane looks at Nick and smiles. "Always keep them close to you Nick; never do anything to lose them."

Nick remembers all the troubles he and Lulu had, his drugs, her ex-husband, finding out that their daughter might have a serious birth defect and when she was born finding out that she was a perfect baby and the test results were wrong. He would never lose this family of his. Somehow he knew something had happen to this man family.

"I will Patrick, I almost didn't have them and I've worked hard to make up for what I've done in the past." Nick isn't sure why he said that, but he realized he meant what he said, and the look Patrick gave him made him feel good about saying it. The man sitting next to him gave him a smile that lit his eyes up. He had a feeling that Patrick could be a friend if they lived closer.

The meal continued with everyone having fun. Nick showed the pictures of Lulu and Sarah to everyone, Patrick shows tricks to Nick that he can show everyone back at the firm. Rigby couldn't believe that Jane would show someone how to do the tricks he had been trying to learn from Jane. Lisbon enjoyed watching how Jane acted towards Nick. They had found out that Nick was a year younger than Jane and for some reason Jane was acting like a big brother. She hadn't seen Jane take up with a stranger so fast, she knew that they would probably keep in touch with each other over the phone.

The evening broke up late when Nick said he needed to get packed and get some sleep, he had an early fight. Everyone gave Nick a hug and walked away giving Patrick and Nick a moment alone.

"If you're ever in Pittsburg give me a call, we have an extra bedroom that you can stay in." Nick says

"That sounds great, I've never been there…and you call if you are out this way with Lulu and Sarah."

They both laugh at how much they sound like brothers at this point. The team is watching the two men and look surprised when they see Jane step forward and gives Nick a hug. Nick isn't really a hugging type of guy, but he finds himself hugging back. They both let go and end up shaking hands. Nick says goodbye and heads for the lobby and the elevator.

Jane goes back to the team, he gives Lisbon a quick kiss and the group walks out of the hotel.

Hope you liked it…..have been thinking about writing it for a week now. DRL


End file.
